News

HAIP was the hosting association at the well-attended Region VII Conference in Honolulu, which HAIP had not hosted since 2012.  The awards presentation was held on Saturday evening at the Awards Banquet where HAIP was awarded the Jeffrey Nordhaus Memorial Award for Education and the E. C. Smith Jr. Memorial Award for Community Action.  Our own Maria Carvalho won the Region VII CWC Speak-Off competition award.

A big thank you goes to the committee chairs for Education Justin Whedbee and Leslie Door, as well as the Community Relations chair, David Heard with the assistance from Jodi Keliinoi Smith for their hard work and dedication to HAIP this term.  Also, a BIG mahalo to our Awards committee chair, Charlene "Chuck" Mizumoto, who completed and submitted the award applications, for which, in part, is a huge key in winning these awards.  

HAIP is so proud and appreciative of the dedication and commitment put forth this year years winners of our most prestigious awards:

     Rookie of the Year . . . . . Ed Keaunui

     Member of the Year . . . . Martha Nobriga

Both well deserved and HAIP thanks you for all of your work and support this term!

HAIP is proud and honored to annouce their Member of the Year, Ellen Mimori, and Rookie of the year, Jodi Keliinoi, for the term 2020-2021.  Their dedication and committment to the association during the COVID-19 pandemic exceeded everyone's expectations.  We are grateful for all their hard work during this difficult year, as HAIP was able to continue to thrive through virtual networking. 

The HAIP term 2019-2020 started off great and then turned into an unprecedented term with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.  And as the world, the country, and the state of Hawaii all shutdown and we all went into lockdown, HAIP continued with meetings and activities, albeit mostly done virtually.  With that said, there were two members of HAIP who stood out and went above and beyond the call of duty during the most challenging of circumstances.  

A huge congratulations to:

     Leslie Door the recipient of the Rookie of the Year Award

                                       and

     Martin Beardeaux for the Award of Member of the Year 

Both of your commitment and hard work were much appreciated and needed during this challenging year .  .  .  . Mahalo nui! 

A huge congratulations to the recipients of the local HAIP awards to two very hard working women:

     ~ Tawana Scott, Rookie of the Year

                             And 

     ~ Evelyn Hara, Member of the Year

HAIP is so fortunate to have members like Tawana and Evelyn who are dedicated and committed to growing and supporting HAIP/IAIP.  Congratulations Ladies, well deserved!

HAIP's 2017-2018 Vice President, Mark Coberly was the recipient of the Claims Professional of the Year Award at the Region VII Conference held in Phoenix, AZ.  Congratulations to Mark for this great achievement and recognition.  A well deserved award after 30-plus years as a Claims Professional!

HAIP is honored and proud to have been the recipients of the following awards at the Region VII Conference held on March 11, 2017 in Costa Mesa, California:

~ Public Relations

~ Community Service

~ Confidence While Communicating (CWC) Winner - Mark Coberly

HAIP had an incredible presence at the awards ceremony at this year's Region VIII Conference held in Burbank, CA.  HAIP and 2 amazaing members won the following awards:

     ~ E.C. Memoiral Award for Safety

     ~ Jeffrey Nordhaus Memorial Award for Education

     ~ HAIP Member Katharine Nohr, Claims Professional of the Year

     ~ HAIP Member Maria Carvalho, Insurance Professional of the Year

Congratulations to Katharine and Maria, and a special thank you to our HAIP Committee Chairs Julie Kirk and Linda Ipsen for all their hard work and helping us win the Safety and Education awards!  

HAIP members joined forces and volunteered in support of the Domestic Violence Action Center (DVAC) at the 1st Annual Reef Aikau Ho'oikaika Ohana Beach Day.  The HAIP volunteers helped at the registration tent and monitored the parking lot at Magic Island Beach Park where the event was held.  

This event honored Reef Aikau, who was a water child and of a water family.  The unbearable unimaginable loss of one's young child is life altering and creates emotional challenges beyond repair.  The DVAC is committed to ending domestic violence and other forms of abuse through leadership, prevention, and legal services. 

HAIP was proud to assist such an amazing organization! 

HAIP members Chenise Blalock, Charlene Mizumoto, Martha Nobriga, Desiree Koyanagi, Jodi Keliinoi, Glenna Maras, Janine Carvalho and Martin Beardeaux put on their finest attire and volunteered at the March of Dimes Hawaii Annual Governor's Ball.  This is an important fundraising event for the March of Dimes and HAIP is so honored to be of service and volunteer for this wonderful organization.  Big mahalo to our awesome HAIP members!

HAIP members Chenise Blalock, Janine Carvalho and Mark Coberly joined the Hawaii CPCU Society Chapter in a community service project at the He'eia Fishpond assisting Paepae o He'eia, a non-profit organization dedicated to caring for and restoring the He'eia Fishpond. The task of the day included moving rocks and coral by filling buckets and caring across the water. Cutting and pulling out invasive mangrove and limu removal.

The work was physically rigorous but very rewarding and provided an opportunity to work side by side with other insurance professionals. Lunch of kalua pork and cabbage was served by the staff at Paepae o He'eia.

HAIP members volunteered their time to the March of Dimes' Pre-Walk Registration.  Our members assisted with folding the March for Babies t-shirts and sorted them by size for easy distribution to the walkers who registered.  HAIP members also checked-in the walkers who came in to drop-off their donations and pick-up their t-shirts and stickers for the big walk on April 20, 2019!

The March of Dimes Hawaii is always appreciative of HAIP and their service!

HAIP members were at it again this year .  .  . volunteering at the March of Dimes Annual Governor's Ball.  Our efforts include registering the multitude of guests that come to the event to support the March of Dimes.  Our volunteers also assist during the live auction as "spotters" for the auctioneer, so he didn't miss a bidder!

More pictures from the evening in our photo gallery . . . check it out!

HAIP member volunteered at Be Ready Manoa, a not for profit organization whose primary purpose is to educate and prepare residents for disasters.  Be Ready Manoa hosted the disaster preparedness fair that was open to the public. Residents were encouraged to swing by to learn how to prepare for various types of disaster scenarios, which included for wildfires. Our HAIP members promoted and provided education on proper insurance preparedness for disasters.

HAIP Members Josh German and Tammy Toma volunteered at the Ewa Beach Disaster Preparedness Fair. They educated folks on how to make sure they had the proper insurance coverages in the event of a natural disaster here in Hawaii.

For a second time in HAIP history, the CWC course was held virtually, as well as our local HAIP Speak-Off Competition that was held during the November 18, 2021 membership meeting.  HAIP had two amazing students and new HAIP members Janine Togikawa and Saskia Nienhuis take the course and particpate in the 2021-2022 Speak-Off Competition.

Our congratulations to Saskia Nienhuis for winning the Speak-Off Competition.  It was a difficult competition for the judges as both participants did an amazing performance delivering their prepared 3-minute and 1-minute impromptu speeches.  We are very proud of both students!  Saskia was not able to attend the Region VII Conference and compete in the Speak-Off competition in June 2022 in Louisville, KY.  Therefore, Mark Coberly, who taught the 2021-2022 HAIP CWC Course, took her place at the Region VII Conference and won!  Mark went on to represent Region VII at the International Convention Speak-Off competition that was held the following day in Louisville.

A special thank you for making the CWC course and Speak-Off Competition happen this year goes to Shane Pope, our Public Relations Committee Champion, and Mark Coberly for teaching the CWC course with assistance from Chenise Blalock and Katharine Nohr.

Congratulations to Maria Carvalho our CWC Champion for the 2019-2020 term.  Maria competed in the local HAIP Speak-Off against fellow HAIP members, Derrick Miyasato and Katharine Nohr.  The competition was stiff, as all participants exuded such confidence and poise while delivering their wonderfully prepared 3-minutes speeches and fantastic 1-minute impromptus.  

Maria will go on to represent Hawaii at the IAIP Region VII Conference in Vancouver, WA in March 2020.

HAIP was proud to have Preston Jones represent them at the 2018 IAIP Region VII Conference CWC Speak-Off in Phoenix, AZ.  Preston went up against 4 other CWC contestants from the region and exuded poise and confidence when delivering his 3-minute prepared speech and 1-minute impromptu speech.  Well done Preston! 

HAIP was well represented by Gayle Nakasone at the 2016 IAIP Region VIII CWC Speak-Off in Burbank, CA.  After months of preparation, Gayle did an amazing job deliving her 3-minute speech and 1-minute impromptu.

Congratulations Gayle for a job well done!

This year HAIP did things a little different, primarily because of COVID.  Rather than a safety essay contest we did a safety photography contest under the inspiration and direction of the Safety Committee Champion, Roel Espiritu.  The contest rules contained the following guidelines:

• Photographs must be the original work of the student.
• Photo file sizes must be between 4MB to 10MB
• Written descriptions of photos are to be typed using a legible font up to 50 words.  
• Photographs must be about, or have to do with, ‘Safety and Health...Pandemic’ – for example, students can touch on risks, activities, physical/mental health, and preventions while at home, out and about, and at school.
• Photography artwork should have a title (be creative).
• The student’s first and last name, school name, grade level, and teacher’s name must accompany the completed photo artwork.

The winners of the 2020 Saftey Photo Contest were:

• First Place:          Kaylen Landry, Mililani High School, Grade 11
• Second Place:     Reyn Nishimura, Mililani HIgh School, Grade 12
• Third Place:         Jared Toledo, Mililani Hight School, Grade 9

Congratulations to these amazing students, their teachers, and parents!

What an exciting year 2018 proved to be for the annual HAIP Safety Essay Writing Competition!

This year's participating schools were:

• McKinley High School
• Moanalua High School
• Pearl City High School
• Radford High School

We had a significant number of essays submitted on the topic of "Distracted Driving" and the job of judging the essays was not an easy task, as so many were well written with extraordinary stories.  However, the winners of the Safety Essay Writing Competition were:

• First Place:         TaNiyah Wiggins of Radford High School                  Essay entitled, "My First Day of School"          (Pictured far left)
• Second Place:    Melissa Kansou of Pearl City High School                 Essay entitled, "If Only I Had Looked Up"       (Pictured far right)
• Third Place:        Elijah Hu of Pearl City High School                            Essay entitled, "Wrecked Lives"                      (Pictured center)

 Congratulations to our winners for a job well done!        

Thank you to the HAIP Safety Essay Contest Sponsors:

• Charlene Mizumoto, Retired
• DTRIC Insurance Company, Ltd.
• Farmers Insurance Hawaii, Inc.
• Gayle Nakasone
• Hawaii Independent Insurance Agents Association
• HEMIC
• Markel FirstComp

And a very special Mahalo Nui Loa to our Safety Chairperson, Julie K. Kirk, who every year puts in much time and energy to make this event a wonderful success!